president obama came into the debate ahead in every battleground state. with an estimated 60 million americans watching on tv, cable and the web, moderator tjim hehrer asked, can you put more people to work. >> he would cut regulations and taxes on small businesses. >> my priority is jobs. so what i do is i bring down the tax rates. >> governor romney's proposal that he has been promoting for 18 months calls for a $5 trillion tax cut. >> reporter: which the president claimed would help the rich at others 'expense. >> the average mittedle class family would pay about $2,000 more. >> everything he just said about my tax plan is inaccurate. >> it's not possible to coming up with enough deductions and loopholes that only affect high-income individuals to avoid either raising the deficit or burdening the middle class. it's math. it's arithmetic. >> reporter: on medicare and social security, one agreement -- >> neither the president nor i are proposing any changes for any current retirees or near retirees. >> reporter: in ten years, romney wants a private medic